Students to be immersed in Remembrance Day activities

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If it is possible, the banner depicted in the large mural at Brock and Toronto Streets will be hung in the downtown once more this Remembrance Day.

Tish MacDonald said the banner, which says “God bless our splendid men / Send them safe home again,” already exists. It was created by high school students in 2016 when MacDonald organized a Lt. Col. Sam Sharpe gala at USS.

"If we can get it up safely, I'd love to see it up," she said.

However, she said the banner is "very heavy" and the weather might be a factor in whether it is erected.

But the banner is just the start. MacDonald is the founder of the Honour Our Veterans banner program, and the group plans a series of activities the week ahead of Remembrance Day for as many of the township's schools as possible.

Aimed at Grades 4 to 8, the activities, running on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ahead of Remembrance Day, will centre around the Uxbridge train station, where several "stations" will be set up. At these stations, children will learn what Uxbridge was like in 1916, how members of Sharpe's 116th Battalion were recruited and what the uniforms were like.

Activities will include an obstacle course, military drills, and seeing a little what it was like in the trenches.

MacDonald said these experiences are part of this year's recognition of the 116th Battalion's 75-mile march 110 years ago through what was then Ontario County before departing for overseas duty.

Students will also learn that the battalion headquarters was set up in Uxbridge, with most of the training done in Elgin Park and at a rifle range on Brookdale Road. The recruiting station was in the old post

office and recruits were billeted in private homes.

The learning stations will be manned by instructors in costume and feature "dramatic vignettes."

MacDonald, a retired high school teacher, has gained a reputation of being the township's unofficial Remembrance Day champion. She introduced the veterans' banners program that has grown considerably since it first began and has led groups of USS students to Europe to visit battlegrounds. She also started the high school's Vimy Kids club and brought students together with local veterans to tell their stories.

What remains now is for council to give its approval for installation of the banner and use of the train station for the activity centre.

The mural on the southwest corner of Toronto and Brock Streets features the banner that Tish MacDonald wants to put up later this year. Photo by Lisha Van Nieuwenhove